


Do Good, Melinda

by Mandergee



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Spoilers for Season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 11:29:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3935170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandergee/pseuds/Mandergee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melinda May finally decided to put herself first, and her decision not only affected her but the man she still loved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do Good, Melinda

**Author's Note:**

> Mild spoilers for season 2 and the finale, though not TOO many.
> 
> I have to work this Meldrew stuff out of my system. I love seeing May happy.

"So what is it I owe for this new frame of mind?" He felt her move beside him in the still hours of dawn, slender hand creeping up to rest against the skin of his bare chest. She still smelled the same, still _felt_ the same after seven years apart, and as she'd called his name in the night he'd marveled at just how little things had changed as her body shuddered against his. "You never did tell me why you decided to ask for a vacation after all of this."

"Bobbi- and Hunter." Her expression sobered a little as Melinda rose up on one elbow, and he turned his head to look into the familiar brown eyes, the cloudiness of sleep just beginning to clear at the sound of his question. His free hand came up to weave large fingers between hers, and they lay together quiet for a moment before she spoke again. "Regret. I didn't do things right, Andrew...and you paid the price for that. It should have been different."

"You're right." His smile was reflected in her eyes, and as her own lips curved to mirror it he wondered how long it had been since she'd smiled like that. "But you're here now. And we have a second chance to make things right, Melinda. It wasn't only you involved in the way things ended, and now we both get an opportunity to change the future."

"Are you ever going to tell me who was in that picture on your desk?"

"I thought you would have figured that out by now." Andrew brought their joined hands to his face, pressed his lips against her soft knuckles. It reminded him of the last time they'd been together, the way her skin tasted like salt and sweat, a sparring session in the basement turned into a frustrated and angry joining of two people desperate to find the glue that could put them back together again. It hadn't worked, and when he'd woken up on the thick mats he'd woken alone- all signs of Melinda gone from his life in the days that followed. "You remember that weekend we went to Maui?"

"The time I came home for the weekend and you had our bags all packed?" He'd pulled strings, gotten a copy of the parameters for the mission Melinda was currently carrying out, and when she'd come home from a week in North Dakota she'd come to a stack of luggage at the door and two first class tickets to Maui brandished triumphantly in his hands. "I still can't believe you pulled that off."

"It took some doing," He replied, "But it was worth it to see the look on your face when we spent the night on that beach."

"It's that picture." They'd handed off the camera to a smiling local, posed before the waves in a white sundress and a blue shirt she'd always claimed was one of her favorites- even though it had been a gift from her mother. "I thought-"

"It's always been you, Melinda." She lowered herself onto his chest, pressed a soft kiss to his lips that tasted like him. "When I told you I couldn't be a part of S.H.I.E.L.D anymore, that the reason was in that frame- it was us. I couldn't be there to see you fall apart again, not if it meant you'd never be the person you were when I married you."

"I can't be that person anymore, Andrew. She's gone." It was a sobering realization, knowing the person he'd met and married in such a whirlwind was no longer there, but the hope remained. "But I _can_ learn to put myself first again- to put _us_ first again, if you're willing to help me try."

"Mm." The sun was beginning to break over the horizon, barely visible through the filmy curtains of his bedroom- _their_ bedroom, he thought- and Melinda's body fit onto his as easily as it always had. As easily as if she'd never left. "It's an enticing offer...but I might need a little incentive."

"Is this enough incentive for you?" His body tensed as she sunk down languidly, back arching up as her expression changed from thoughtful to something entirely more passionate. Melinda May had been the one person he'd loved in his life more than he'd ever thought possible, and it surprised him still that having her back in his life seemed to fit as comfortably as she always had. "Well, what do you say?”

"I say...do good, Melinda. And I'm glad you came home." She _was_ home, he thought, and as the passion began to overtake him he pushed the idea into the back of his mind that she'd be leaving again, eventually. For S.H.I.E.L.D, for Coulson, and to rebuild a life without him in it.

Two weeks. He had two weeks, and as he held her tightly against him a moment later Andrew Garner came to the conclusion that he was going to make the most of that time.

“So, ready to take me on again?”

“Anytime, anywhere.” _Maybe we_ _ can  _ _start new._ The night before had given him reason to imagine, as Melinda crept beneath the covers and curled up against him just like she had when they were married. The morning, fresh and new, illuminated that hope and made it seem even more possible.

And as she took him to the brink, pushing them together over it and gasping out his name, he knew that the woman he loved was still with him- and their future could still exist if he was willing to go along for the ride.

 


End file.
